Feeling the Fuzzy of a Warm Family Reunion...

Today was a good day. A very good day. Which incidentally fits in well with my plan to have a good 2006. So you could say, that so far everything in going according to plan (well, other than the whole flu thing, but I am feeling better now).

Harv and I spent the day at a post Christmas family gathering. It is actually more like a family reunion, because we really don’t get to see these people more than once a year. It was such a good day, and I was so happy that we went. It really confirmed in my mind that there really is nothing quite like family. It’s like wrapping yourself up in a warm blanket of welcome and acceptance. There is just something about being with people who have known you and loved you since you were first born. People who grew up with you and walked with you through life’s journeys – from the adventures of childhood with hours of hide and go seek and “no bears out tonight”, to the mis-adventures of youth with our what-were-you-thinking-hairstyles to first boyfriends, to baseball games with the youth group and summers at camp. And since then there has been graduations and careers, and marriages and babies. We who were once kids now have kids of our own (well, some have cats…) We have all grown and changed. But it is a comfort to know that some things never change. I love that my Auntie Carol still has that great laugh that makes me smile every time. I love how Uncle Gord is just as quirky as ever. I love how our attempt to sing Christmas carols is always a faint and feeble effort, but that never seems to stop us. I love how some of my cousins are still great friends with each other after all these years. I love how the Aunties still congregate together overseeing everything, still bringing too much food, still laughing together, still enjoying each others company year after year. I love how Grandma always is there to bring our focus on the Lord with a word or prayer. And you always know that you can count on a few good “remember when” stories when we get together that will always bring a laugh.

I had a lot of time to reflect on the day as we travelled back home together. I felt very loved and supported. I felt nostalgic. I felt proud of how we had all grown, and the men and women that we were becoming. I felt proud of how successful one cousin, had become in his work. I felt so happy to see another being such a great dad, because we always knew that he was going to be a great dad. And as we drove I felt that I got a little glimpse of God’s feelings towards me. If this is how I feel watching my family grow and change over the years, how much more does God smile on me as He watches me over the years? How much more affection and joy do I bring to His heart? How much more interest does He have in my life’s ups and downs, and what has happened in my world in a year? Just as I want to sit down and catch up and talk with my family, how much more interest does He have in my thoughts and feelings and ideas? My highs and highlights as well as my lows? So I think that I am going to schedule in a family gathering of sorts with my Father. We need to do a little catching up. And I know that He is going to want to hear everything that I am going to say, and He is going to have all the right words and advice to give me in return. I am thankful for a God who not only sticks closer than a brother or family member, but also loves more deeply and with more affection that we can ever know. And that is like a warm fuzzy family reunion feeling that I can carry around with me on a daily basis, not just once a year.